Rockstar's Dan Houser gets nostalgic about Max Payne

Rockstar's Dan Houser has been shedding a little light on the creative proces behind the gruff, manly second sequel to Max Payne. Speaking to Gamasutra he rightly points out that the rose-tinted glasses often blur out older game's deficits - a challenge that Rockstar faces with Max Payne's legions of dedicated fans. “I think the challenge of nostalgia is a more profound one, because one thing about video games is your memory tends to remove the horrendous,” said Houser. “You want to appeal to the fans of the original and bring in a new audience.”

When asked about Max Payne's hair rotation (bald with beard), Houser commented that the issue was a contentious one. “We saw a lot of people questioning our parentage, and our right to be doing this and, you know, our right to even exist,” said Houser. “There is a lot of love for this property. The fact that there's a huge rabid fan base is something that is very much in our favor.” It sounds like Rockstar is taking Max Payne seriously, and has a huge amount of respect for the franchise. We're so excited that the four months until its launch in March 2012 might as well be taking place in bullet time.